The Mavers is a Romanian startup that was founded in September 2020. It provides data science, PropTech studio and digitalisation services to real estate companies.
We are meeting you just months after you laid the foundation of The Mavers. Will you tell us more about your experience and how the company came to life?
We are indeed very young, and we have only been on the market since September 2020! As for how it all began, I used to work as an investment controller for Petrom City, planning and executing their data center, HQ etc., a process that I enjoyed immensely. In 2019 I shifted towards CBRE where my goal was to bring real estate technology to the Romanian market. These professional experiences and the global pandemic were the catalysts that contributed to creating The Mavers.
In a nutshell, we came up with a smart framework that makes it easy for real estate companies to digitalise their processes, as well, and we also build products which we believe great value to the industry, such as a platform that aggregates public information (traffic reports, real estate listings, air quality reports, etc.) to generate market reports.
What sort of conclusions can real estate companies draw from the data you make available?
By analyzing all the data points available (location, size, asset-class specific attributes, interest, surroundings, etc.) we can categorize properties and find patterns within the data. This gives real estate companies a better grasp of what the market really looks like and a clear map of all the properties that fit into a certain category.
The end goal is to deliver an aggregator that can be used by private and corporate clients alike. More than half of real estate transactions are carried out by private clients, which is why we want to cater to them as well. But so far developers have been our main focus. They usually turn to us because they want to know what would be feasible to build on a particular plot of land. We provide them with the location analysis: pricing, potential competition in the area, traffic density intervals, air quality, etc.
There are already various platforms on the market that allow the possibility to search and filter properties based on specific criteria - what sets The Mavers apart?
The main difference is certainly the user experience. Looking at other platforms in the market we noticed that they tend to be filled with information and quickly become tiresome for clients. By contrast, our goal is to simplify things and show only the relevant details. We do consider integrating our product with other websites in the future, but for the time being the main focus is to give users a stress-free experience.
Your platform is still in its prime, can you offer us a glimpse into how you envision its growth? What new functionalities do you already have in mind?
Yes, we have been working on the platform for half a year now and we continue to implement new features every month, and get feedback from users. For example, we recently created a terrain analysis function that is essential for developers. It includes feasibility studies, a documentation archive, a gallery with photos and drone footage and a map of surrounding restaurants, parks, schools, etc. We also want to integrate Google Street View so clients can "walk" around the terrain at ground level, not only see it from satellite view.
The real estate industry here is sometimes seen as conservative, how keen are developers to invest in the type of technology you offer?
It comes as no surprise that the pandemic led to an increased interest in technology. Developers understood that being technologically inclined is the only way to stay alive in this market, which evolves at a fast pace even under normal circumstances.
In our case the response has been good, it gave us motivation to move forward and also generated new ideas. The land analysis software that I mentioned earlier came as a response to a developer's need for more in depth information. They were searching for an organized way to do feasibility studies, and we gave them a clear picture of the land and what it can be used for.
What about the challenges that a company like yours has to navigate in the Romanian market?
Even though many developers showed a real interest in what we offer, I noticed they have a tendency to wait for others to try out novelties before they commit themselves. So in the early days we rely on companies that have a forward looking culture and accept new technologies with enthusiasm. But this is merely a challenge and not a deal breaker, based on my interaction with market players I have good reasons to believe that new technology adoption will only accelerate from here on.
How do you plan to seize this opportunity, what ambitions are you pursuing in the coming two-three years?
In three years time we expect to have a truly mature product in our hands. The short-term plan is to show our clients how unique and valuable the services we offer are. As for the long term plan, for us, the data science project is the first piece in a much bigger puzzle.
